There’s a Simpsons joke for every occasion. If the Phillies had tasted victory against Chase Burns, I would’ve had a great opportunity to break out one of my favorite quotes from the character with whom he shares a surname—“Honestly, Smithers, I don’t know why Harvard even bothers to show up— they barely even won!”. Except replace “Harvard” with “Phillies”. Anyway, I say let the Reds have their victory and their elite flamethrowing pitcher. The Phillies will always be first in fuzzy green mascots
and gentlemanly club life.
Burns and Jesús Luzardo got off to quick starts, wrapping up their first two innings without allowing a run. Burns allowed a double to Alec Bohm in the first and a single to Bryson Stott in the second, but wrapped the inning up with the next batter in both cases.
Luzardo surrendered his first hit with the first batter of the third, Blake Dunn. He then walked Tyler Stephenson. The warning lights were flashing Reds. But Luzardo was neither to be dissuaded from his task nor persuaded to offer a Redleg a journey home. He induced the next two batters to hit weak grounders, turning the first into a twin killing and the second into the final out.
Burns seemed to be cruising through yet another inning, putting the first two Phillies he faced in the third down. That brought up Trea Turner, who got a slider he liked, then sent it somewhere Burns did not like: The left-field seats, underneath the scoreboard. The Phillies thus drew first blood.
But their own lips would be bloodied soon enough. In the fourth, Elly De La Cruz hit a liner to center that bounced off the top of Justin Crawford’s outstretched glove and bounced to the wall; De La Cruz made it to third. The next batter, Spencer Steer, put much less distance on the ball, chopping it into the infield. But the Phillies didn’t have anyone at first, and the weak contact became a hit. Runners on the corners, none away. Luzardo struck out Sal Stewart to provide some much needed relief, and Stewart, in turn, successfully overturned the challenge to provide some very much not needed heartburn. Stewart would eventually take his base via the free pass, and the bases were more loaded with Reds than Mr. Redlegs’ mustache is loaded with wax. The Cincinnatis hit a pair of sacrifice flies to score two and take the lead.
The Phillies’ attempts to take it back in the fourth and fifth were stymied by Burns, who put them down in order both times. Bohm grounded to short to make the first out of the fourth, and the next five Phillies were struck out by Burns. The next three weren’t, but they were sent back to the dugout in other ways.
Luzardo’s day ended as the seventh dawned. His performance had been quite good outside of a shaky fourth, and even there he recovered quickly and limited the damage. He just had the bad luck to face off against a pitcher having an even better day. Tanner Banks was the choice from the bullpen, and he encountered trouble fast, surrendering a leadoff double to JJ Bleday, and an infield hit to Dunn. Banks was a bit late in running to cover first, and Harper’s subsequent throw was rushed, sailing past Banks and allowing Dunn to advance to second. Banks then walked Tyler Stephenson, and the bases were more loaded with Reds than a bowl of Cincinnati chili is loaded with shredded cheese. A grounder from Ke’Bryan Hayes turned into a force out at home, and the Phillies turned to Jonathan Bowlan to get the next two outs. The same seemed to happen with Matt McClain’s grounder, but the Reds challenged, and the replay officials agreed that Dunn had made it home before the ball did. The subsequent run-scoring walk to Elly De La Cruz was not the worst thing that could happen when a slugger approaches the plate with the bases loaded, but it wasn’t terribly pleasing to the eye of the faithful Phillies fan either. The Phillies put the next two batters away to end the inning with the Reds up 4-1.
Burns’ brutally effective night concluded with the sixth inning, and the Phillies set out to redeem themselves against the Reds’ bullpen. First order of business: Piercing the line of defense offered by Pierce Johnson. Rain began to fall on Citizens Bank Park, as the Phillies began their comeback campaign. Bohm worked a leadoff walk to continue a his hot streak, but Brandon Marsh struck out, and McClain made a great dive to turn a broken-bat liner up the middle from Adolis García into an out, and Stott went down on strikes.
Chase Shugart wears 55 on his back, and tonight that number served as a reminder of his task: do not let the Reds get their fifth run. The number that turned out to define his outing was three: the number of Reds that he faced, and the number that he sent trudging back to the dugout.
The Phillies took their next shot at narrowing the lead against Sam Moll, with Otto Kemp pinch-hitting for Crawford. Moll mollified the Phillies batters, and the home team was left with their fifth straight scoreless inning. Shugart took the ninth, and once again stymied the Cincys. That left the Phillies trio of Turner, Harper, and Bohm to kickstart a comeback. But Turner flew out, Harper struck out, and Bohm did too. The last strike came on an initially-called ball overturned by ABS; a final frustration in a wet, irritating night. So it goes.
The Phillies are 25-24. They’ll take on the Reds in the rubber match tomorrow at 1:05.
